Root is a cute and bloodthirsty boardgame of war and domination, as told through bands of little woodland animals fighting for control of a forest. The notable element of the series is that each faction (represented by their own animal and delightful little wooden meeples), has its own structure and goals, achieving victory in their unique way. You could play as an empire of cats who win by covering the map in factories, or as aristocratic birds who obsessively follow their own edicts to the letter, or as Trading Company otters who want to simply amass money. In my game, I played as illuminati crows who avoid fighting and win by carrying out subversive plots.
It is a neat idea that is packaged really nicely. It sets itself apart from strategy like Settlers of Catan or Risk by giving the players these different jobs, and providing a massive scope for replayability. If you want to try every faction out with all the add-ons included that'll take you at least 10 games! But you'll also want to replay the same factions because the first time over you will make a lot of mistakes, and you'll only start to get the hang of how a particular factions is best played by the time the game is already finishing.
Unfortunately, this is the first of the game's problems. Whilst each individual faction is simple enough to play, it is not necessarily intuitive how best to play them. My illuminati crows could barely get a foothold for most of the game because it was super easy for opponents to disrupt my plots whenever I tried to start one. There was only one optimal strategy around this anti-crow bias, and it wasn't apparent until I'd sat through several hours of unsatisfying gameplay first. The others were having similar problems. Another player was stuck with the bird aristocracy, and was constantly getting confused about what he could and couldn't do; it was a huge problem for his faction, because it depends on players being excellent planners, and is severely punishing for people who aren't.
If all this weren't enough, whilst each faction is simple, it is tremendously complicated to keep in mind how all your opponent's different factions work at the same time. As everyone has their own rule set, it's too easy to lose track of what they are trying to, what they can do, and why they are even doing it. That's a bad thing when it comes to strategy.
Root is a frustrating game because it requires all the players to have multiple playthroughs to get the hang of it, and yet it punishes new players and dissuades and them from retrying. My advice for anyone considering this game is to just get the base game and get people to replay only that a few times. It's just complicated and varied enough for people to have a fun time. If you go in with the many expansions, you are in for headaches.
TabletopGame The Animals of Fighting Wood
Root is a cute and bloodthirsty boardgame of war and domination, as told through bands of little woodland animals fighting for control of a forest. The notable element of the series is that each faction (represented by their own animal and delightful little wooden meeples), has its own structure and goals, achieving victory in their unique way. You could play as an empire of cats who win by covering the map in factories, or as aristocratic birds who obsessively follow their own edicts to the letter, or as Trading Company otters who want to simply amass money. In my game, I played as illuminati crows who avoid fighting and win by carrying out subversive plots.
It is a neat idea that is packaged really nicely. It sets itself apart from strategy like Settlers of Catan or Risk by giving the players these different jobs, and providing a massive scope for replayability. If you want to try every faction out with all the add-ons included that'll take you at least 10 games! But you'll also want to replay the same factions because the first time over you will make a lot of mistakes, and you'll only start to get the hang of how a particular factions is best played by the time the game is already finishing.
Unfortunately, this is the first of the game's problems. Whilst each individual faction is simple enough to play, it is not necessarily intuitive how best to play them. My illuminati crows could barely get a foothold for most of the game because it was super easy for opponents to disrupt my plots whenever I tried to start one. There was only one optimal strategy around this anti-crow bias, and it wasn't apparent until I'd sat through several hours of unsatisfying gameplay first. The others were having similar problems. Another player was stuck with the bird aristocracy, and was constantly getting confused about what he could and couldn't do; it was a huge problem for his faction, because it depends on players being excellent planners, and is severely punishing for people who aren't.
If all this weren't enough, whilst each faction is simple, it is tremendously complicated to keep in mind how all your opponent's different factions work at the same time. As everyone has their own rule set, it's too easy to lose track of what they are trying to, what they can do, and why they are even doing it. That's a bad thing when it comes to strategy.
Root is a frustrating game because it requires all the players to have multiple playthroughs to get the hang of it, and yet it punishes new players and dissuades and them from retrying. My advice for anyone considering this game is to just get the base game and get people to replay only that a few times. It's just complicated and varied enough for people to have a fun time. If you go in with the many expansions, you are in for headaches.